Waking Up
by FadedLace
Summary: Wrath is having trouble adjusting to living with the humans. post series animeverse AlxWrath oneshot


Title: Waking up

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine in any way, shape, or form.

Rating: G

Pairing: Wrath/Al

Warnings: shounen ai (obviously), post-anime (ignoring the movie, which I haven't seen…)

Author's Note: I wanted to have another take on the way Wrath would adapt to his new life in Risembool, and this is what I came up with. I hope it's all right! I thought it came out pretty well.

…

Wrath was not used to being allowed to have feelings. All through the time he spent with the homunculi, he was told over and again by Envy, by Dante that he was not human, that he was not to have human feelings. But the feelings were always there, no matter who saw or didn't see them.

And now, all of a sudden, those feelings were allowed, welcomed, encouraged, because now he had to pretend to be a human, because now he depended on humans. Humans who were kind enough to him, humans who gave him food and shelter and new limbs and an occasional smile which usually held a large dose of sickeningly sweet sympathy. Wrath choked it all down and stared, glared, looked back at the humans and got better despite himself. But when he could walk around the house, do chores for that blonde girl, fetch things for the old woman, he still didn't know what to do with his emotions.

It wasn't having them that was the problem. It was showing them. When he was with the homunculi, when he was under constant stress and strain, he had never hesitated to yell and cry and scream out everything, but now, now that he could, now that life was slow and lethargic, he had to contemplate whether or not he needed to yell and cry and scream all his triumphs, all his failures.

And so the shady spot on the hill overlooking the Rockbell house became Wrath's new home, a place where he could sit and watch the syrupy-slow life saunter along and think. It was a place where he could be alone and not worry about pleasing the humans (the easiest way to survive, until he was fully mobile again) or working on his recovery (he had all the time in the world, and regenerative powers to boot). All in all, it seemed that the sleepy speed of the place was rubbing off on him and soaking in, because suddenly, though things were still confusing, there was no hurry.

And then, one day, Wrath woke up to large golden-brown eyes looking into his, and his first reaction was to yell. Startled, the owner if the eyes, the younger Elric fell back and blinked. "Ah- I'm sorry…I had wondered where you went."

Wrath didn't understand. "You wondered…where _I _was?" Not that the humans (it was getting harder to think the word with contempt) were unkind to him, but rather they were disconnected from him, unattached.

The Elric looked at down at his knees as he sat back on his heels. "…I was lonely."

Wrath couldn't help but laugh. "_You_? Were _lonely_? _Here_?" Here where everyone doted on him, babied him, petted him and stroked him and constantly told him how brave he was to have survived and to keep learning alchemy even after the whole ordeal? It was absurd.

Alphonse looked up at him. "Just because I get attention doesn't mean I don't get lonely…too." Wrath noticed how he added the last word softly, almost hesitantly.

Hugging his knees to his chest, Wrath grinned and said sarcastically, "So. Someone does pay closer attention to me than whether or not I can walk down the hall."

Alphonse blushed and laughed softly. "Actually…I've been worrying about you for a little while. You seem so alone, so detached from everything. I was just…hoping to talk to you."

"Well, here you are," Wrath announced with false grandeur. "Is it all you hoped for?" Actually, it seemed that talking to the Elric boy had made him feel better, more normal, if nothing else.

To Wrath's surprise, Alphonse smiled at him. "It's more, actually. Because everyone told me you'd be spiteful and hate me. But you've been really nice." Leaning up on his knees towards the homunculus, he wrapped his arms around the other boy in a chaste hug. "Let's be friends."

Wrath blinked in surprise, paralyzed momentarily until the human detached himself from the homunculus. However, as Alphonse smiled happily at him before rising to leave, Wrath felt a bizarre, warm feeling wash over him, and suddenly, feelings no longer seemed confusing. As Alphonse was walking down the hill towards the house, Wrath rose to follow him.

"Alphonse."

The blonde boy looked over his shoulder at the other, short ponytail flipping with the motion. "Huh?"

Wrath grinned and hurried as best he could on his partially-mobile leg.

"Wait up."


End file.
